GMKtec Mini PC, Intel Twin Lake N150 (Upgraded N100), 16GB DDR4 RAM 512GB PCIe M.2 SSD, Desktop Computer 4K Dual HDMI/USB3.2/WiFi 6/BT5.2/2.5GbE RJ45 for Office, Business

My GMKtec arrived on time and booted up into windows 11 pro without any problems. I used 2 monitors to test if it would run both simultaneously. I went to best buy to add a cable to go to my old monitor which did not have the correct connections. They both worked well together.I found one problem after a week or so that I could not solve. The secure boot showing in msinfo was off. I reset the setting in bios (which was off) and rebooted. That did not solve the problem. In addition there was a new driver that was not being identified in device monitor.I emailed GMKtec for help. He emailed the setting for secure boot (which I had already done) and to go to intel's webpage and check for drivers. I found one new video driver. I just downloaded all the drivers and had them reinstalled. That fixed the secure boot problem. In addition the screen was much improved due to the new video driver.I am very satisfied with the product. It is totally quiet. I have played movies on it with no problems. This small box is replacing my 8 year old dell xps that cannot be upgraded to windows 11. I was particularly happy that it was windows 11 pro as that meant you could use vm's thru hyper-V. I installed hyper-v and created 2 different windows 11 vm's. They both worked without slowing the computer. I also wanted something that didn't increase my electric bill. This was barely noticeable. The box is warm to the touch but not hot. I live in AZ and was concerned about heat. So far this has not been a problem.It is ideal for me as a home computer.

I am writing this after using a Mini PC N100 for eight months, and I can report that it has more than met my expectations. Most of the setup was done automatically, but if you want to avoid it, you can start loading your own software before allowing the computer to check for updates. My software consists of a word processor, Skype and Zoom, schematic and PWB editors (I'm a retired engineer), software for controlling radios and lab equipment, and software that helps me manage our home network.There are USB ports on the front and the rear of the enclosure. I have two monitors on my desk, and I used the dual HDMI outputs to spread out projects and avoid having to page in and out of screens I was working with.The troubles came after my wife and I put our house on sale and moved to a smaller home in a retirement facility. In the new setup, audio, streamed or from movies or online conferences, was accompanied by short buzzing sounds at roughly 1-second intervals. I struggled with this for a few days and finally swallowed my pride and filed a trouble report with GMKtec. This where many of the offshore PC manufacturers disappoint their customers. I was in for a pleasant surprise, though, because a reply arrived in less than 24 hours. A lady answered my request for help and promised a referral to a support person. This gentleman offered a list of things to check--several of which I hadn't thought of--and then asked for a recording of the sounds.I provided the recording, and after more discussion, which didn't produce a solution, I was offered the option to replace the computer with a new bare bones unit. Eventually, I chose to remove the memory and SSD and send my unit back to GMKtec. I never got a chance to find out how quickly they would send a new PC N100, because shortly before printing a UPS label, I decided to clean up the area where the computer had been sitting, and I noticed that the power supply was a 19.5 Volt unit. To shorten the story: I had packed things a little too carelessly when we were moving, and I mixed up the power supplies for the computer and another piece of equipment. (The PC N100 uses a 12 Volt supply.) When I connected the correct supply, the PC N100 worked perfectly. No problems from then on. I sent profuse apologies to my contact at GMKtec. Appreciation and best wishes came from his end.So what can I report about the PC N100? I does what I need from a computer. It was easy to set up. And even while it was struggling to overcome my mistake, it ran all of my software perfectly. Factory support? Couldn't be better. Thank you, GMKtec! (Full disclosure: I was not offered any compensation for this report. I've just summarized my experience with the company and one of its products.)

For the first 24 hours, I was really impressed. Really snappy performance, 8 GB of RAM was plenty for simple tasks, and the SSD was capacious at 256 GB, considering the price. The inclusion of Windows Pro made the box almost free! However, after updating to Windows 11 Build 22H3, during the process of applying updates, the computer locked up. After 60 minutes with the computer no longer visible on the network and the keyboard and mouse non-responsive, pulled the power cord. Upon restoring power and turning on the computer, the PC was stuck for hours at the spinning circle during boot.Two more power-cycles and Windows repair interface appeared. Selected Windows Reset, Local Source (wouldn't work with cloud source), Windows began resetting. However, after a restart, computer back to the infinitely spinning circle. :-(If this had proved reliable, I'd have bought a dozen or more as remote monitoring PCs for client networks. But given that I've had good luck with the similarly priced AWOW models, I will not be investing any more money or time in the GMKTek offerings.Update 01-07-2024-----------------------Fortunately, GMKTek provides a download for a Windows 11 re-installation ISO. With this and leveraging a fair amount of knowledge of Windows installation options, was able to re-image the SSD. Unfortunately, the product key is invalidated and I had to use a spare Windows 10 product key to re-activate Windows. Unfortunate the GMKTek hasn't worked out the same relationship with Microsoft that Dell has, whereby any Windows 11 ISO used to load Windows onto a Dell OptiPlex results in an automatically activated Windows 11 installation.Bottom line is that after recreating and updating all apsects of the re-installed Windows 11 OS, the PC is back to running normally. I know to steer clear now of some driver updates. The PC has been running for about 36 hours and I'll post an update if that changes in the near future.When this PC works, it represents a great value for the money in terms of hardware specs and a Windows 11 license. However, taking into account the time issue remediation takes and the expertise required, the TCO (total cost of ownership) rises significantly. If I never have to do brain surgery on this device again, I'll still feel the cost was justified based on the performance of this sub-$200 device.P.S. I now make a complete image backup before running/installing ANY updates so I can simply restore the image backup rather than running into yet another Windows 11 re-installation process and the requirement to use/purchase another Windows product key.P.P.S. The WIndows 11 re-installation ISO download was 11 GB and was not a standard Windows 11 installation ISO. This had to be burned to a flash drive (I used a 16 GB USB3 model; I used Rufus to create the bootable UEFI flash drive) and then the GMKTek PC booted with it. Upon boot, I was faced with a terminal window and a couple of choices. The one I chose led to an image/sysprep process that fortunately got the PC bootable once again with Windows 11 Pro.P.P.P.S. Highly recommended --> As soon as you boot the device for the first time, find a tool such as ProduKey by NirSoft and extract and save the Windows 11 product key. Ideally (although I didn't have a chance to test), this key would work if a re-install was ever required. The other option, that I was waiting for until the PC was fully updated, is to create an image backup using any number of tools, including the image backup tool in Windows. Thus, if any of your update processes results in a non-bootable PC, you can simply re-image from the backup and avoid having a non-activated instance of Windows 11.Update 01-12-2024-----------------------Vendor reached out proactively and offered some assistance, although I'd resolved the corrupt Windows 11 issue independently. However, that level of customer support is remarkable considering the price of this product and the lack of such support from other vendors with much pricier offerings. Due to this, upgrading the rating to four stars.Update 01-13-2024-----------------------Customer support proactively reached out and provided a product key so I could activate Windows 11 and free up my personal product key. GMKtec's proactive reaching out to a customer with issues is almost unparalleled in my experience over 40 years, so despite the issues I encountered, I'm raising my review to five stars. For a product this inexpensive but with excellent performance, providing this level of customer support is laudable.